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Artist Discovery Series: Deap Vally

By Dan Caffrey
The Black Keys comparisons were inevitable. Deap Vally is bluesy. Deap Vally has two people. Deap Vally is drums, guitar, vocals, and nothing else. But categorizing the Los Angeles duo as a female version of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney (as so many publications seem eager to do) does them a disservice.

For one, Deap Vally has more fuzz and scuzz. Credit the guttural howls and serrated riffs to guitarist/lead throat Lindsey Troy’s adolescent fascination with Courtney Love. “She’s so raw and badass,” she recently told Rolling Stone.

Thankfully, Deap Vally’s lifestyle doesn’t reflect that of their idol. They met in a crocheting class, a hobby that carries over to their tour activities, which also include reading, listening to Spotify, and taking Tylenol PM to help fall asleep. But onstage, they keep it loose and thundering.

An often barefoot Troy stomps her pedals and cracks her jagged soprano, all while drummer Julie Roberts provides lower-registered backing vocals, her arms seemingly independent of the rest of her body as they pound the skins. “Brother, brother, these legs are closed to you” Troy snarls to an unfaithful lover in “Lies”. “End of the World” has a more accepting message, diagnosing hate as “a parasite” and pretty much asking everyone to sing “Kumbaya”. But the muddy distortion, heart-rattling fills, and all-out yowling keep any potential cheesiness at bay.

So far, the band only has one release—the four-song Get Deap! EP. Three of the tracks appear on their forthcoming full-length debut, Sistrionix, and if they’re any indication of what’s to come, fans can expect more back-alley ferocity, and yes, a very specific brand of garage-blues that belong to Deap Vally and nobody else. Not even The Black Keys.

To help familiarize yourself with the dynamic duo, Consequence of Sound asked the two to fill out The C.o.S Quiz…